detected. They could not be expected to prove it, because it was not
one of those things that admitted of proof, and it was impossible
that the person of whom it was told could prove it himself.

But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his
ascension through the air, is a thing very different, as to the
evidence it admits of, to the invisible conception of a child in the
womb. The resurrection and ascension, supposing them to have taken
place, admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the
ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon day, to all Jerusalem at
least. A thing which everybody is required to believe, requires that
the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal;
and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only
evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it
falls to the ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead
of this, a small number of persons, not more than eight or nine, are
introduced as proxies for the whole world, to say they saw it, and
all the rest of the world are called upon to believe it. But it
appears that Thomas did not believe the resurrection; and, as they
say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration
himself. So neither will I; and the reason is equally as good for me,
and for every other person, as for Thomas.

It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The
story, so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of
fraud and imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the
authors of it is as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to
be assured that the books in which the account is related were
written by the persons whose names they bear. The best surviving
evidence we now have respecting this affair is the Jews. They are